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PSYCHE. 



ORGAN OF THE CAMBRIDGE ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB 



EDITED BY GEORGE DIMMOCK AND B. PICKMAN MANN. 



Vol. II.] Cambridge, Mass., February, 1879. [No. 58. 



On the Repugnatoriai Glands in Eleodes. 



The repugnatoriai glands of Rhodes gigantea and E. dentipes 

 are situated on both sides of the intestinal tract, imbedded in 

 the fat-bodies. They are two reddish-brown, semi-bilobed 

 pieces, cylindrical at the upper, longer lobe and more flattened 

 at the lower, shorter part, the latter being on the inner side, as 

 the figure shows. Their extent is from the base of 

 the lact up to the middle of the second integumental 

 segment, and they have an average length of 6.5 mm. 

 Both E. gigantea and E. dentipes, male and female, pos- j,.^ ^^ 

 sess these glands, and on teasing the living specimens 

 in the breeding cage, they stand on their anterior and middle 

 legs, holding the abdomen high up, and spirting the contents of 

 the glands left and right. I have handled several hundred live 

 specimens, and, in every case, the spirting had a sidewise direc- 

 tion. The liquid stains the human skin, and the stains are not 

 easy to remove. In some cases, when the secretion is spirted 

 on a glass slide, it solidifies within a few seconds, forming an 

 orange-colored magma of minute crystals ; in other cases it 

 only partially crystallizes, and in others it remains entirely 

 liquid. It is, in all cases, of an acid reaction, and of an in- 

 tensely penetrant odor, causing the eye to lachrymate. It is 

 soluble in water, alcohol and ether. Boiled with concentrated 

 sulphuric acid and alcohol an ethereal aromatic vapor is pro- 

 duced, indicating the presence of one or more organic acids. 

 The smell of the glandular secretion is to my knowledge incom- 

 parable with anything else, and very peculiar. Having tested 



